Ed Sheeran tickets just $99 for Australian arena tour
HE’S the busiest man in pop with an Australian arena tour in the pipeline. So what’s next for chart topper Ed Sheeran? Let him explain.
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WITH only one ticket price, all fans will have the chance to sit in the front row of an Ed Sheeran concert when the singer-songwriter tours Australia in 2015. His album X is top of the ARIA albums chart and his single Thinking Out Loud is at #2.
Your Australian arena tour next year has an across the board ticket price of $99. That’s the cheap seat price, for every seat.
For me that seems expensive. I didn’t realise people charge more than that. I wasn’t so fussed about the actual price of the ticket, I have to pay for the show and I guess $99 pays for the show. What I was really trying not to do was have elitist tickets. I didn’t want people to play $170 and get front row tickets and a meet and greet. I hate that sh--. The moment you allow a kid with a rich father to have more things than a kid with a poor father I think that’s sh--. It’s great that $99 is affordable, but I wanted it to be the same price for everyone.
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You know front row tickets are around $2000 for some shows.
That’s f---ed up. We keep tickets for the front row, we give them out on the day. We either try and find fans outside or go right to the nosebleed seats up the top and give them front row tickets. I got the idea from the Justin Bieber documentary. It’s a cool idea.
And those people would really appreciate their front row tickets if they arrived expecting to be in the back row.
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It’s an incredible buzz. I’ve done corporate or radio shows where they sell the front row to the highest bidder and it’s sh--. They don’t give a f---. They’re there because it’s cool to be there. But if you give it to fans waiting outside or the ones in the back row they go mental.
You recorded four new songs while you were in Melbourne to play AFL Grand Final. What can you tell us about them?
One of them was a Christmas song. I wanted to write a Christmas song that isn’t cheesy and is more like a hymn you’d hear in a church. That was my idea. It hasn’t got a title yet, it’s just Christmas Song at the moment.
And it’ll be out for Christmas?
Not this Christmas. That’d be overkill. I have Thinking Out Loud going into Christmas. I’ve had a good year. If I saw an artist have a string of hits, an album that did well, has a hit going into Christmas and then did a Christmas single I’d think ‘Ooh, that’s overkill’. So if I thought that about someone else I wouldn’t do it myself. There’s a better time to do it. You can build up anticipation for it. If it came out next year or the year after when I haven’t released anything for a while it will be bigger.
Not released anything for a while? Are you telling us you’re taking a break?
I haven’t had any time off before I signed my record deal and I want some time off!
Can you switch off from making music when you take time off?
No. That’s what I enjoy doing most. I’ll be making music for six months or something.
No touring?
No, touring’s fun, but, no offence, just no interviews. They have nothing to do with the reason I got into music. It is worth doing, but only to promote the thing you love. I find myself doing this more than the thing I love.
You do more interviews than you probably have to though ...
I don’t think I do more than I have to, I just think other people don’t do enough. If you’re proud of a product you should push it. My point of time off is different, I might even do shows, it’s just the things that come in-between. I’ll do what I enjoy in my time off and it won’t feel like work.
The hard work has paid off with the new album X though.
It took two years to sell two million copies of the first album (+) and it’s taken 14 weeks to do 2.2 million of this one.
A lot of artists say they don’t track sales, but secretly you are sure they do ... You clearly keep an eye on your sales.
I thought Chris Martin tracked Coldplay’s sales, but he doesn’t. He didn’t even want me telling him what he sold. Because I know everyone else’s figures as well! I get quite anal with that. Only in the UK though. Weirdly that’s the only place I care about facts and figures. If the album was successful everywhere in the world apart from the UK I’d feel like it was a failure. I think it’s just because my home country.
Can a bad sales report ruin your day?
The great thing about being worldwide now is that if a song’s not successful in Australia it usually is in Germany or Poland. (The Hobbit soundtrack single) I See Fire did f--- all in the UK and America but it was No. 1 for ten weeks in Germany. It’s my biggest song there. There’s always a silver lining. And thankfully I’ve not had a song that’s flopped everywhere. I don’t think you can. Different countries have different tastes. You can always have a hit somewhere.
You let the fans choose the singles via what they buy on iTunes. What’s the fourth single from X after Thinking Out Loud?
I don’t think I should do another single. I think three is a good number. I did six on the last album and it felt too much. You just never go away and people get pissed off. Bruno (Mars) did three, Taylor (Swift) did three, Adele did three. Three’s a good number. I’ll probably end up with four singles so I have a song to go into the Brit Awards with next year.
Have you enjoyed the debate about who your bitter breakup song Don’t is about (most people assume it’s Ellie Goulding)?
No. It went overboard with how people reacted and what they thought. I don’t like encouraging people being mean. I was venting because I had to. People were getting too excited about it.
Any regrets?
No. I think it’s a good song. I told the truth, it was good for me to get it out there. I regret the way media reacted to it. If I was a dick I’d sue some people. I’m fine with people alleging whoever it’s about, but it’s when they go behind your back and print it and think you’ll never see it. There was a major newspaper in England who had to issue an apology.
Has that person you wrote it about heard it?
I don’t know. How do you know? If there was a song about me I would have heard it, so I imagine they probably have. Don’t know what the reaction is.
Are you singing or writing on the new Taylor Swift album?
Nope, but I’ve heard six or seven songs. It’s a great pop record. It’s not about genres with her, it’s about songs. This record, like the last record, is full of good songs which is the key. She’s done everything she could possibly achieve with country, she’s sung with everyone, won all the awards, sold all the records. She’s all about a new challenge and competing in this world of the female pop star she’s doing pretty well.
Ed Sheeran plays the Riverstage, Brisbane, March 20, 21. $99, Ticketmaster; Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena, March 24, 25, 26. $99, Ticketek and Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, March 28, 29, 30. $99, Ticketek.
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Originally published as Ed Sheeran tickets just $99 for Australian arena tour
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